Overview

Pigeon Creek is a spring and seepage fed stream beginning just east of Lancaster and flowing southwest to the Grant River near Beetown (Smith and Ball, 1971). While the dominant land use in the Pigeon Creek sub-watershed is agricultural, stormwater from the City of Lancaster also drains to Pigeon Creek.

Smallmouth bass have been found at sites on Pigeon Creek during fish surveys done in 1991-1996 (Wang et.al., 1996). While the numbers vary from year to year, overall the stream has a very good population of smaller sized smallmouth bass and also appears to be an important bass nursery stream for the Grant River (Lyons, 2000). Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) scores and stream water quality ratings, indicators of environmental degradation, for Pigeon Creek were generally fair with three poor observations. In-stream habitat evaluations show Pigeon Creek to have generally good instream habitat quality (Wang et.al., 1996). Macroinvertebrate data collected in 1994 through 1996 found the stream to have fair water quality. Approximately 12% of the samples were mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies compared to nearly 65% midges (Marshall, 1999). High numbers of midge typically suggest some sort of environmental degradation (Gamman, 1983).

Date  2001

Author   Aquatic Biologist

Historical Description

From: Smith, Tom D., and Ball, Joseph R., Lake and Stream Classification Project. Surface Water Resources of Grant County, Department of Natural Resources, 1972. Surface Area: 22.18 acres, Length = 12.3 miles, gradient. 20 ft./mile, Flow: 5.5 c.f.s.
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A spring- and seepage-fed stream beginning just east of Lancaster and flowing southwest to enter the Grant River three miles southeast of Beetown. This stream has many small spring-fed tributaries entering along its length. Many good pools and varied bottom types exist although nearly 90 percent of the watershed is used for pasture or crop land, and bank erosion is heavy. Smallmouth bass are common and provide a good fishery especially in the lower one-half of the stream. Forage fish are abundant throughout and have been taken commercially in the past. Whey pollution from a cheese factory at Five Points caused a heavy kill of white suckers, creek chubs, and smallmouth bass in 1958. And further pollution occurred in the summer of 1970. The Lancaster sewage disposal plant and the Grant County Hospital and Home are also considered tobe potential pollution sources. Muskrats are common along the stream, and most upland game species found in southwest Wisconsin are.present within this watershed. The stream is easily accessible from the Grant River and five bridge crossings. About five dwellings adjoin the stream.

Date  1972

Author   Surface Water Inventory Of Wisconsin

Impaired Waters

Pigeon Creek (959600) was placed on the impaired waters list for total phosphorus in 2012. This water was assessed during the 2016 listing cycle; the regional biologist recommended an additional listing for degraded biological community based on current and historical Poor mIBI scores. This water is considered impaired and not meeting its Fish and Aquatic Life use.

Date  2015

Author  Aaron Larson

Condition

Wisconsin has over 84,000 miles of streams, 15,000 lakes and milllions of acres of wetlands. Assessing the condition of this vast amount of water is challenging. The state's water monitoring program uses a media-based, cross-program approach to analyze water condition. An updated monitoring strategy (2015-2020) is now available. Compliance with Clean Water Act fishable, swimmable standards are located in the Executive Summary of Water Condition in 2018. See also the 'monitoring and projects' tab.

Reports

Recommendations

Management Goals

Wisconsin's Water Quality Standards provide qualitative and quantitative goals for waters that are protective of Fishable, Swimmable conditions [Learn more]. Waters that do not meet water quality standards are considered impaired and restoration actions are planned and carried out until the water is once again fishable and swimmable

Management goals can include creation or implementation of a Total Maximum Daily Load analysis, a Nine Key Element Plan, or other restoration work, education and outreach and more. If specific recommendations exist for this water, they will be displayed below online.

Monitoring

Monitoring the condition of a river, stream, or lake includes gathering physical, chemical, biological, and habitat data. Comprehensive studies often gather all these parameters in great detail, while lighter assessment events will involve sampling physical, chemical and biological data such as macroinvertebrates. Aquatic macroinvertebrates and fish communities integrate watershed or catchment condition, providing great insight into overall ecosystem health. Chemical and habitat parameters tell researchers more about human induced problems including contaminated runoff, point source dischargers, or habitat issues that foster or limit the potential of aquatic communities to thrive in a given area. Wisconsin's Water Monitoring Strategy was recenty updated.

Grants and Management Projects

Monitoring Projects

Watershed Characteristics

Pigeon Creek is located in the Lower Grant River watershed which is 129.75 mi². Land use in the watershed is primarily agricultural (56%), grassland (25.40%) and a mix of forest (16.50%) and other uses (1.90%). This watershed has 310.53 stream miles, 33.46 lake acres and 298.95 wetland acres.

Nonpoint Source Characteristics

This watershed is ranked Not Ranked for runoff impacts on streams, Not Available for runoff impacts on lakes and High for runoff impacts on groundwater and therefore has an overall rank of High. This value can be used in ranking the watershed or individual waterbodies for grant funding under state and county programs.However, all waters are affected by diffuse pollutant sources regardless of initial water quality. Applications for specific runoff projects under state or county grant programs may be pursued. For more information, go to surface water program grants.